Watch The Moment The Western Bulldogs Coach Unleashed Absolute Hell On A Fox Footy Reporter
We're one game into the season and it's already messy as hell.
The AFL men’s season kicked off last night, and just one game in we’ve already witnessed a coach tear shreds off a Fox journalist.
After a loss to the Melbourne Demons at the MCG on Wednesday night, Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge quickly lost his cool in the post-game press conference after a question regarding team selection.
On Monday, Fox Footy journo Tom Morris reported that midfielder Lachie Hunter wouldn’t make an appearance in the season opener because of his poor form. Hunter was subsequently named in the starting 22, then axed as a “medical substitute”, then re-named at the last minute after Jason Johannisen copped a leg injury in the warm-up. But if you thought the emotional rollercoaster of Hunter’s playing status was the spicy bit, you may want to sit down for this because Beveridge absolutely wasn’t taking questions about it, especially from Morris.
“You’ve got the nerve to ask me a question and even be here. You’ve been preying on us the last two times. You barrack for Melbourne, Tom Morris. You’ve been preying on us. You’ve been opening us up, causing turmoil within our football club by declaring our team well before it needs to be declared. Is that the way Fox want you to operate? Is that what you’re doing? Is that the gutter journalist you want to be? Is that who you want to be?” asked Beveridge in a scathing response when questioned on the circumstances regarding Hunter’s place in the team.
Beveridge noted that clearly, somebody within the club has been leaking news to the media. “We went in with a plan. We had some late stuff go on, with JJ unfortunately coming out in the warm-up. Everything other than that was according to plan from the Sunday, which somehow you found out about again. We need to get to the bottom of this,” he said before making his response more personal.
“Obviously, we need to put our hand up and say that there’s some leakage going on. But you’re preying on it and it’s a team you barrack for. Your conflict of interest here is considerable. And yet, your gutter journalism at the moment is killing us behind the scenes.
“The health and wellbeing of people in the game is caught up in all of this stuff. We’ve got things to concentrate on performance-wise, we’ve got to look after our own, and then you cause all of this muck-raking trash that happens behind the scenes. Names get brought up into it. All we’re doing it planning for a football game. Are you proud of yourself? You’re proud of yourself? Wow. That’s enough, that’s enough. Next question please. You’re not welcome. Well, have you got enough boys and girls? I think we’re probably done, aren’t we?”
After attempting — and failing — to kick Morris out of the press conference and going off on a tangent about courtesy and integrity in journalism, Beveridge asserted that he is “giving everyone else a bad name”.
” You’re an embarrassment to what you do, mate. You’re an embarrassment. An absolute embarrassment,” said Beveridge.
Beveridge, who is — and I must stress this — a 51-year-old man, then stormed out, ending the press conference with no further questions.